Giving Baby Up for Adoption in Arkansas

What to do if you’re pregnant and thinking about adoption in AR

If you’re pregnant and considering adoption, you’re facing one of the hardest decisions of your life. The bottom line is that you have three options: parenting, abortion or adoption. Please know that no one can tell you what to do about your unplanned pregnancy. The decision is up to you and you alone, and no one should be attempting to sway you in any direction. You know what’s best for you and for your baby.

As an adoption agency, we hope to be able to provide you with information about what would happen should you choose to give a newborn up for adoption in Arkansas. This information isn’t meant to persuade you in any way, but rather to educate you if you’re thinking about adoption. Remember, no one can tell you how to decide if you want to put your baby up for adoption.

If you do, however, decide that adoption is right for you, here’s how the process works:

Choose adoption. When you first begin to form a relationship with your Adoption Specialist at American Adoptions, she’ll make sure you feel confident in your adoption decision and that you understand what it means. She’ll talk to you about how adoption is free; in the state of Arkansas, adoptive parents pay for birth parent expenses related to prenatal, delivery and postnatal care. She’ll also explain who must consent to the adoption and how you get to choose exactly how the process goes.

Create your adoption plan. Your Adoption Specialist will help you decide exactly how you want this adoption to go. You’ll talk about what you’re looking for in an adoptive family, how much contact and in what form you want to have with the adoptive family and your baby, how you want your hospital stay to go, and more. You are in the driver’s seat of the adoption process with American Adoptions.

Choose an adoptive family. American Adoptions works with hundreds of families who are waiting to adopt a baby. They have all completed home studies as well as background checks and are excited to get to know you. As a national agency, we work with families in Arkansas as well as across the country, so if it’s important to you that your child stay in your home state, that can be accommodated. You’ll be able to look through adoptive family written profiles as well as adoptive family video profiles to learn more about each family before deciding to talk to any of them.

Get to know the adoptive family you’ve chosen. At American Adoptions, we recommend open adoptions. This means you’ll share some degree of contact with the adoptive family and your baby until he or she turns 18, should you choose to. This could mean occasional pictures and letter updates, or it could mean regular phone calls and visits. It’s entirely up to you. During your pregnancy, you can get to know the adoptive family and decide what works best for everyone involved. Adoption is a relationship, and it will continue to grow and evolve as time passes.

Prepare your hospital plan. When you’re pregnant and looking into adoption, planning for your hospital stay is a little more involved than it would be otherwise. In addition to your birth plan, you’ll need to think about factors like who should hold your baby first, how much time you want to spend with the baby and the adoptive parents, who you want in the room with you, etc. In Arkansas, you can consent to your child’s adoption at any point after you give birth.

Maintaining an adoptive relationship. In Arkansas, you have 10 days after giving consent to withdraw it. If you don’t change your mind about putting your baby up for adoption, this doesn’t mean your relationship with your child has to be over. Maintaining your relationship agreement with the adoptive family will help you to stay updated on your baby’s life and participate as much as you feel comfortable with.

To reiterate, no one should ever try to tell you what to do with your unplanned pregnancy. That decision is yours and yours alone. If, however, you’re interested in talking about your options with a professional, don’t hesitate to call American Adoptions anytime at 1-800-ADOPTION. You can also request free information here.

DisclaimerInformation available through these links is the sole property of the companies and organizations listed therein. America Adoptions, Inc. provides this information as a courtesy and is in no way responsible for its content or accuracy.

American Adoptions, a private adoption agency founded on the belief that lives of children can be bettered through adoption, provides safe adoption services to children, birth parents and adoptive families by educating, supporting and coordinating necessary services for adoptions throughout the United States. For more information on American Adoptions, please call 1-800-ADOPTION (236-7846)